Minister seeks central help over UGC embargo

State Higher Education Minister Sudarshan Roychowdhury has written to Union Minister of Human Resource and Development Kapil Sibal...

State Higher Education Minister Sudarshan Roychowdhury has written to Union Minister of Human Resource and Development Kapil Sibal asking him to intervene in the issue of recruitment of teachers in colleges and universities where an embargo has been imposed by a recent notification of the University Grants Commission (UGC).

The recruitment process for colleges and universities in the state came to a halt earlier this month after the UGC circular,which denies candidates with a PhD or an M Phil any exemption from appearing for NET or SET examination.

Demanding exemption in cases where the recruitment process has nearly been over,the minister said the UGC has acted in haste on this issue.

Roychowdhury argued that the National Eligibility Test (NET) examination was conducted by the UGC on June 28. In the notification for NET 2009,the exemption for MPhil and PhD candidates has been duly mentioned,so how can the UGC ask the government to stall all recruitments under the old rules with immediate effect from mid-June.

Due to the UGC circular,the College Service Commission in the state had to stop the recruitment process midway for about 2,800 vacant posts for which about 9,000-10,000 candidates have applied availing an exemption from NET and SET on the basis of their PhD and MPhil degrees.

We dont have any objection to the UGC proposal. We want an exemption only for this year so that the recruitment process can be completed, Roychowdhury said,while addressing a press conference on Tuesday.

He suggested that exemption for only 15 days for the West Bengal College Service Commission and about one month for the state universities will suit the purpose.

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